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Primary Concept of Arsenic Toxicity: An Overview

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Geostatistics and Geospatial Technologies for Groundwater Resources in India

Part of the book series: Springer Hydrogeology ((SPRINGERHYDRO))

Abstract

Contamination of drinking groundwater with arsenic is a looming problem in several countries and has affected millions of people, distributed over some 20 countries, globally including people in West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh. Continued exposure to Arsenic (‘As’) leads to various disorders and malfunctioning of renal, reproductive, cardiovascular and respiratory system along with the lethal effects manifested on skin and epidermal cells. In the review, an effort was made to incorporate the findings of other investigators and to evaluate the relation among arsenic metabolism and the consequences of numerous chronic disease. Early indications/manifestations of arsenicosis is difficult because of the occurrence of non-specific symptoms in various water-borne ailments. It has emerged that orthodox drugs used for treating arsenicosis was highly unsatisfactory as they have their own toxic side effects. In such a scenario, insights to the biological and epidemiological meanings of arsenic metabolism can help in mitigating the risk of arsenic toxicity and provide a prospective means for disease prophecy, prevention and control.

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Abbreviations

As:

Arsenic

AsIII:

Arsenite

AsV:

Arsenate

DMAV:

Dimethylarsinic

DMAIII:

Dimethyl arsinous

MMAV:

Monomethyl arsonic

MMAIII:

Monomethyl arsonous

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely acknowledge Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, DST-FIST (SR/FST/LS-I/2018/173) and DBT-BOOST No.118/14/BT(Estt)/1P-4/2013 for providing infrastructural support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Ranchi Road, Purulia, 723104, India

    Surjyo Jyoti Biswas, Monoj Patra, Santosh Kumar Giri, Sanjib Gorain & Dinesh Gope

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan, 713104, India

    Nimai Chandra Saha

  3. Department of Zoology, Netaji Subhas Open University, D-26, Sector-1, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, 700064, India

    Bibhas Guha

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Water Management, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

    Partha Pratim Adhikary

  2. Raja N. L. Khan Women’s College (Autonomous), Vidyasagar University, Medinipur, West Bengal, India

    Pravat Kumar Shit

  3. Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

    Priyabrata Santra

  4. Randstad India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India

    Gouri Sankar Bhunia

  5. School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    Ashwani Kumar Tiwari

  6. Department of Geophysics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India

    B. S. Chaudhary

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Biswas, S.J. et al. (2021). Primary Concept of Arsenic Toxicity: An Overview. In: Adhikary, P.P., Shit, P.K., Santra, P., Bhunia, G.S., Tiwari, A.K., Chaudhary, B.S. (eds) Geostatistics and Geospatial Technologies for Groundwater Resources in India. Springer Hydrogeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62397-5_16

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